Super Monkey Ball Teaser Preview

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By IGN Staff

Based on Sega's puzzle arcade game, Super Monkey Balll has been transformed into the definitive party game on GameCube. It's one of the system's best titles and, even better, is available at launch. It works a lot like Marble Madness, except players control the 3D level board, not the monkeys themselves. It's an easy, intuitive control scheme -- one that would likely make Mario-designer Shigeru Miyamoto himself smile in its simplicity. Only the analog stick is used to move the monkey -- that's it. It's possible to play one-handed.

The idea itself is equally intuitive -- collect bananas and get the monkey through a goal placed in each stage. One can only lose if their monkey falls off the 3D board or if time runs out. So in the first 10 Beginner levels, winning isn't such a task. Most of these areas are flat, and the goals aren't far off. A few bananas are scattered here and there, and there is an occasional moving track that must be traversed, but nothing major -- nothing a quick tilt of the board won't maneuver the monkey around quite nicely.

But as the levels progress from Beginner to Advanced, everything suddenly becomes much more difficult. Paths branch, flat boards become bumpy and twisty, there are slides and drops, and everything seems to be moving -- splitting apart. Oops -- there goes one monkey; shouldn't have gotten so close to the edge there. Uh-oh -- there goes another; stupid moving platforms! This is where the addiction begins.

What Makes Monkey Ball so "Super"? "They've added so much to this game that the arcade mode actually takes a backseat to everything else," said a Sega tester about Super Monkey Ball, and he couldn't have been more right. The truth is that developer Amusement Vision hasn't simply ported over the arcade code to GameCube -- it has added whole new modes of gameplay, new levels, a four-player mode, and just about everything else. The end result is the ultimate party game -- one that eclipses anything Nintendo achieved in the Mario Party franchise.

There are a total of six exclusive modes to the GameCube. Monkey Fight allows for a four-player punch-out on one screen, pitting monkeys hovering arena platform where the idea is to knock your foes into oblivion. Putting a twist on darts, Monkey Target lets players launch monkeys into the air in an effort to land on bulls-eye targets for points. The four-player split screen capable Monkey Race is an ultra fast race across special tracks littered with power-ups. This is only the half of it. If you earn enough points you can unlock Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling, and Monkey Golf for your sports fix.

For an in-depth discussion of all Super Monkey Ball has to offer check out this preview.